Starlight Voices
by Oreth Adablaer
Summary: Late night insomnia and anxiety causes Rikku to seek comfort and advice from an older guardian and leads to a revelation. Oneshot, NO ROMANCE.


**Starlight Voices**

**By ShatteredOasis**

Author's Quickie: Hello. This is my first short fic that I've posted on here. Just so you know it contains no romance whatsoever. Just a young guardian and her mentor. I hope you enjoy, and please review!

A pair of emerald green eyes opened in the darkness, the light of the stars overhead reflected in their swirling depths. Rikku inhaled a sigh and turned over onto her side, resting her head on her arm. The ground was hard beneath her, and the coarse grass rubbed against her neck and cheek. The night air was unexpectedly warm, and the light blanket thrown over her felt heavy as the robes of a Yevon priest. She gazed across the dying embers of the camp fire to her cousin's peacefully sleeping form. Curled up beside Yuna was Tidus, his face showing concern for the young summoner's safety even in sleep. Loud snores came from her other side, and Rikku knew without looking that it was Wakka. Everyone else was apparently unaware of her troubled sleep. The young Al Bhed closed her eyes and tried once again to fall into unconciousness, but her thoughts kept returning to the end of their journey. Tomorrow they would cross the rest of the Calm Lands to Mount Gagazet, and after that...

_Stop it, Rikku! _she admonished herself silently. _Yunie will be fine, she will... Just go to sleep. _But she couldn't, no matter how hard she tried. Finally she sat up with a groan and flung the blanket from her. Maybe she needed some time alone to think, or maybe she wanted to take a walk to ease her nerves, but she found herself standing and moving away from the fire. But just before leaving the circle of flickering light, she noticed a dark figure lurking just within the enclosing darkness. A flash of red revealed its identity. Shaking her head at the irony of the situation, she quickly made up her mind to join him. _Well, better to talk to him than myself, _she thought, and began to walk towards him. As she approached, the grass crackled under her bare feet. Yuna's oldest guardian neither moved nor spoke, giving no indication that he knew of her presence.

Yet somehow she knew that he could sense her standing there, and was unconcerned. Obviously he was just going to ignore her. But Rikku wouldn't have it. He'd done enough of that on their journey, and as a fellow guardian she should at least be recognized. What would they be without her, after all?

"I know you know I'm here," she said, her hands resting in fists on her hips as she stared at the back of his head. Auron didn't respond for a moment, then he said, "You've been tossing and turning for an hour at least." Feeling slightly foolish that he could hear her from all the way across the fire, she settled down beside him, drawing her knees up to her chest and following his gaze into the outer blackness.

"Sleep," he told her. "You will need your energy." She sighed and rested her head on her arms.

"I can't sleep," she replied. "Every step we take brings us closer to Zanarkand, you know?" He glanced at her side-long, the light of the fire illuminating his russet eye.

"You worry for Yuna," he said, as though he could read her thoughts.

"Mmm-hmm." She loved her cousin like an older sister, and it just wasn't fair that they couldn't spend more time together before...

"Yuna is strong. And determined. She will decide what is right when the time comes," was his reply.

"But... What if there isn't anything we can do? What if all this, this whole pilgrimage, is just for nothing?" she said, her voice taking on an urgent tone. Auron shifted, resting his arm on his knee. He had anticipated a peaceful night of solitude and reflection, to prepare for the coming day. But the teenager's presence had broken what meditation he'd had. Then again, she seemed to need the same kind of encouragement that he did, that everything would somehow turn out for the better.

"I just don't know what I would do if..." Rikku couldn't finish her sentence, but the ronin knew her meaning even without words.

"No one can tell what the future will bring, Rikku," he replied, and then added, after a thought, "But you have seen death before." Her silence brought confirmation. When she didn't speak after some time, he considered their conversation over, and went back to observing the shadows. But she didn't move from his side, and finally said, in a voice no more than a whisper, "My mother." She stared at the ground, mind lost in memories that were almost forgotten. When Auron didn't say anything, she continued.

"I was only five. She left on a machina excavation mission with some other Al Bhed. They heard that there were ancient machina buried down south. But one night they were caught off guard by fiends. Everyone was killed except my mom, but she was poisoned and badly injured. A group of Yevonite priests were returning to their temple, and they came across her. She asked them for help, but they..." She closed her eyes shut and clamped her teeth together, fighting the tears of anger that came to her eyes. "They just... left her there... They couldn't even give her a damn antidote." She turned away so Auron wouldn't see her cry.

"I had... surmised as much by what Cid told me," he finally said.

"So you knew." She snorted bitterly. "What else did my dad say, huh? That I used to have horrible nightmares every night?"

"He said that he did not want harm to come to you."

"And?" Her impatience was clear in her voice.

"I told him you were capable of caring for yourself," he replied. She mouthed a surprised "oh" and leaned back on her arms, sticking her legs straight out in front of her.

"I can barely remember her anymore. Just..." She closed her eyes and smiled, as if in memory. "The smell of her hair, like lemon and oranges. Or when she'd hold me, I felt like... everything was perfect in the world. That nothing bad would ever happen, you know? I guess I was wrong."

Auron turned his gaze on the Al Bhed teenager, his face expressionless and distant. Rikku hardly noticed, however, her attention focused on the wide blanket of stars in the sky above.

"And you?" she said finally, pulling the older guardian back into the arms of the present. "Do you have any idea how to help Yunie?" Her eyes were intense upon his, her face revealing unmasked hope. Auron stared back, not yet betraying his own emotions. He was not the first to look away.

"We must rely on our inner strength to overcome the trials ahead," he said, puzzling Rikku with his cryptic words. When she still appeared puzzled, he added, "Yuna will need you, Rikku. Don't let her see your despair."

"I still don't get it. What's gonna happen?" she persisted, her anxiety apparent in the crease of her brow. Auron turned away, the slightest ghost of smiles tugging at his mouth.

"Even I cannot hope to understand. But we will soon learn." Rikku stared at him with raised eyebrows.

"Are you saying that even _you _don't know?" she said doubtfully, trying to stifle a yawn but failing.

"No one can see the future," he replied. Rikku gazed absentmindedly at the ronin's wind-swept profile, illuminated by the pale face of the moon.

"Fydlran," she whispered. "What we call it, anyway. It means 'Watcher.'" Auron nodded, but did not speak. Rikku was determined to get a few more words out of this enigmatic man tonight, no matter what. This was a difficult task, but one she wanted to persue.

"And you know what we call the sun? Huinecran, the Nourisher."

Silence.

"Oh, come on! Say something already!" she moaned impatiently. All she wanted were a few words of encouragement. She needed assurance that these past few months were not all in vain, that they had not wasted breath on hopeful words. Her voice faltered as she spoke again. _"Please." _The intensity of her tone caused Auron to look at her again.

"If you want my word that we will be successful in detroying Sin, then that I cannot say. It has never been done before."

"Then, why -?"

"But if there is any way at all, it rests within Yuna. And our friend from Zanarkand," Auron continued, shifting his gaze to the sleeping boy.

"You mean Tidus?" Rikku asked in confusion. _What did he have to do with this? _

"Each of us has a purpose, an important part in this story. What that is for you is your decision."

"I already know my part. I'm gonna stay with Yunie 'till the end, no matter what," replied the Al Bhed. She had promised this when she became the summoner's guardian. _It seems so long ago..._

"As will I," replied the older man. His mouth widened into what could have been a smile. "We are not so different, you and I."

Rikku's face showed her doubt.

"Oh yeah, how?" she asked.

"There are many things which cannot be seen by the eye alone. Now I suggest you return to bed. This discussion has gone on far longer than I expected."

She was about to protest but noticed the look on his face.

"Okay, okay... I'm going." She stood up, stretched, and faced the campfire. She was about to head towards her bedroll when he spoke again.

"Rikku."

She turned around, curious, and expectant.

He gazed solemnly into her eyes and said, "Don't give up yet. There is still hope."

Those words were all she needed. A grin lit up her face. For a moment she considered hugging the stoic guardian, but then decided it was not in her best interest.

So she stood straight, and brought her first and second fingers to her forehead in an Al Bhed salute before running back to her corner.

Auron did not watch as the girl left his side, but the silence moments later confirmed that she had fallen asleep. He gazed up at the sky once more, reverent of nature's beauty, and the future that was yet to come.

Well, that's it! I hope you enjoyed, and please review.


End file.
